Pat & Walt Niehoff

Reflecting on 2006, the beginning of the year found us “down-sizing” – attempting to get rid of 20+ years’ accumulation of railroadiana, books we shouldn’t throw away, doo-thingees we might need someday, etc. – all this in anticipation that 2006 would find us selling our split-level home and moving into a new one-level condominium. While many housing changes did take place during the year, nothing took place as we had predicted. We are still in the split-level on Mirador Road, and we plan to remain here for the foreseeable future.

Significant changes took place in the lives of our mothers. After a hospital stay in Jim Thorpe in April, Walt’s mother, Kathryn, moved to Louisville, KY, to live with her daughter Anne. That plan held up until fall, when she moved to a Louisville memory-care home. Also in April, Pat’s mother, Helen, spent a week in the hospital and subsequently (July) moved from her home of 60 years in Binghamton to live with us.  We were able to sell both of their homes, both after just a few days on the market. (As all of you know, getting from sale to close is pins and needles.)

During the growing season, we actually found that the garden was manageable. Through judicious use of kneepads, Walt only wore out two pairs of jeans.

For us, the most significant event took place in mid-October. Walt had a serious fall, tumbling down a half flight of steps inside our home, fracturing the inner wall of his left sphenoid sinus, which resulted in a leak of cerebrospinal fluid.  He spent about a month and a half in the care of the fine staff at Wilson Hospital’s Neuro Suite. Helen, too, returned to the hospital, spending about a week just a few doors from Walt’s room at this same time. Both of them returned home just before Thanksgiving.

We are now a family of three at Mirador, thankful that we are together here and gradually getting stronger physically as we prepare to face the challenges of the new year ahead. Winter’s project will be to consider plans for an addition onto our current home to give us one-floor living right here should we require it. We look forward to returning to our hobbies as time permits – Pat to embroidery and watercolor, Walt to his PC projects and possibly a new HO railroad. We expect to be out working in our garden again next spring, adding still more beautiful daylilies and other flowers to our ever-changing beds.